Featured: Don’t land in the Pisco!

Posted on February 19, 2011 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

I finally got my Peruvian pilot’s license a few weeks ago. I’d worked off and on over the past 6 months to convert my licenses. Didn’t have time or money to work on my license full-time, that’s why it took so long. Plus everything had to happen in Lima… that’s one of the bad things about Peru, when you live in the provinces you have to go to Lima for practically any significant government issue.

Anyway, here’s a teaser from my flying blog about taking the flight test for my Peruvian pilot’s license:

Coming back to the checkride, as we were doing maneuvers just north of the “Rio Pisco”, about 10 miles north of the Pisco airport, the DGAC examiner cuts the engine. All 105 mighty horses in the Cessna 152 decided to quit on me at the very same instant.

We were at 3,500 feet at the time. I looked to Pisco airport in the distance and realized I couldn’t make the airport. I told the examiner I’d land on some green fields I spotted nearby.

…

For all the excitement go read “Don’t land in the pisco!” Since you’re reading this, you already know it all ended well 😉

Wendy Sulca: Peruvian teenage pop/folklore starlet

Posted on February 7, 2011 by wwelvaert under History and culture, Life in Peru

I hardly watch TV, but recently it seems like every time a TV is turned on in the room, there’s some show or feature with Wendy Sulca.

Wendy Sulca was a Peruvian child singer who became popular on YouTube and Peruvian TV shows. Now she’s becoming a bit of a teen starlet.

Wendy Sulca is typically introduced as “niña de folklore” and she signs traditional Huayno music, but in my opinion she’s really a pop/folklore crossover. Here she’s singing a Spanish version of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”.

Wendy Sulca’s most recent hit is “In Tus Tierras Bailare” (in your lands I will dance), where she sings together with La Tigresa del Oriente (The Tigress of the East), and Delfín Hasta el Fin. Alma Guillermoprieto wrote an interesting review of “In Tus Tierras Bailare”.

Some people make fun of her childish voice (according to Wikipedia she’s only 14), but I like her posture and composure on stage, she’s very engaging with the crowd or camera.

According to Wikipedia, Wendy Sulca was born in San Juan de Miraflores, a poor area of Lima. In the official video of her popular song “La Tetita” you see her in the traditional folkloric dress in small towns in the Peruvian countryside, but life in San Juan de Miraflores is nothing like that.

Ticos are dying

Posted on February 5, 2011 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

The Tico is a small car that was produced by Daewoo. In the 1990s, thousands were imported to Peru, mostly for use as taxis. I don’t think Ticos would be street legal in the US or Western Europe (although I have seen some in Poland), but here in Cusco the fact that they are so small and maneuverable actually made them quite handy.

When I first visited Peru in 2005, it seemed like 80% of the taxis in Cusco were Ticos. You see many of them in other parts of Peru as well, but I think Cusco was like the Mecca of Ticos, because the narrow city streets were perfect for the Tico. In Lima you see some Ticos, but when you’re on a major highway like the Via Expressa, riding in a Tico is pretty scary.

Considering that most Ticos are used as taxis and circle the potholed streets of Cusco 12 or 14 hours a day, it’s quite surprising that they have lasted this long. However, the Ticos are really showing their age now.

This Tico has seen better days

Most Ticos are not quite in as bad a shape this one that I saw parked along the Panamericana highway, but when I’m hailing a taxi I now often pass up a Tico to wait for a better car…

In the years since I’ve been visiting Peru, Ticos are noticeably becoming a smaller part of the taxi fleet, with more and more new cars taking their place – mostly Toyota, Suzuki, some European brands as well as the Chinese brands such as Chery and Jac.